The present invention relates generally to absorbent articles intended for personal wear, more particularly to an absorbent structure for a personal wear absorbent article used to take-in and retain body exudates released by a wearer of the article, and even more particularly to such an absorbent article in which the absorbent structure comprises an absorbent core that is wrapped by a liquid permeable wrapsheet to maintain the integrity of the absorbent core when wet and to inhibit migration of absorbent core materials.
Absorbent articles for personal wear are in widespread use, such as diapers, children's toilet training pants, adult incontinence garments, sanitary napkins and the like, as well as surgical bandages and sponges, to take-in and retain body exudates released by a wearer. Certain absorbent articles are generally considered to be disposable in that they are usually intended to be discarded after a limited period of use, i.e., the articles are not intended to be laundered or otherwise restored for reuse. Disposable absorbent articles typically comprise an absorbent structure disposed between a liner, which contacts the wearer's skin, and an outer cover, which inhibits liquid body waste absorbed by the absorbent structure from leaking out of the article.
The liner of the absorbent article is typically liquid permeable to permit liquid body waste to pass therethrough for absorption by the absorbent body. Absorbent articles such as diapers, training pants, incontinence garments and other articles intended to take-in and retain large amounts of liquid body waste (e.g., urine) typically require the use of high absorbency, superabsorbent materials to provide the needed absorbent capacity. More particularly, superabsorbent particles or fibers are blended with woodpulp or synthetic fibers to form an absorbent core (also sometimes referred to as an absorbent body).
While conventional absorbent articles perform well functionally, it is becoming more desirable that such absorbent articles appear more like conventional garments. For example, diapers, children's toilet training pants and incontinence garments desirably appear more similar to conventional cloth underpants. To accomplish this, absorbent articles must be thinner, softer and more conformable to the wearer's body than currently available products. One feature that would facilitate a thinner and more comformable appearance is a thinner absorbent structure. Specifically, the ratio of superabsorbent material to fiber within the absorbent core may be substantially increased to maintain and/or increase the absorbent capacity of the absorbent structure while reducing the amount of fluff (e.g., fibers) needed.
Such absorbent cores, however, are often unable to adequately contain the superabsorbent particles therein. As a result, dry superabsorbent particles can escape from the article prior to use, and wet particles can migrate from the absorbent core to the skin of the wearer (otherwise referred to as gel-on-skin occurrence in reference to the hydrogel construction of the superabsorbent material). Although superabsorbent gel particles have not been observed to adversely affect skin health, the occurrence of foreign particles on the skin of an infant is not preferred by consumers and thus is not desirable.
It is also known to provide a tissue wrapsheet surrounding the absorbent core to maintain the structural integrity of the core prior to wetting of the article. However, providing a tissue wrapsheet surrounding the absorbent core is not likely to alleviate such a concern because the tissue wrapsheet loses its integrity once it becomes wet and results in superabsorbent material readily migrating through the wrapsheet.